Mr Kent Nnadozie, the Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), discusses the importance of the treaty. See Part I for his introduction to the ITPGRFA.
Flora IP (FI): Can you share the benefits of ratifying the ITPGRFA for a country like Nigeria*? *Nigeria is yet to ratify the ITPGRFA.
Mr Kent Nnadozie (KN): Joining the ITPGRFA has many benefits, including access to vital plant genetic resources from around the world, capacity development, global information-sharing, support for national implementation, support for the sustainable use of plant genetic resources, support for farmers’ rights, and overall benefit-sharing.
The ITPGRFA has a number of important global mechanisms available to its Contracting Parties. These include (i) the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing and (ii) the Global Information System, both of which are constantly growing and easily accessible to all Contracting Parties.
The ITPGRFA’s Multilateral System currently has over 2.1 million samples of plant genetic material, available to Contracting Parties for easy access and exchange so that they can conduct research and grow food for the growing world population.
Let’s remember too that the value of any particular sample is based on the information available about it. The more information available about a resource, the more valuable it is for breeders. As such, the ITPGRFA also has a Global Information System of invaluable data.
The ITPGRFA’s system of benefit-sharing includes financial and non-financial benefits, such as training, knowledge exchange and capacity development programs. On the financial side, the ITPGRFA’s Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) provides financial support to agricultural development projects and programmes in developing countries.
To date, the BSF has positively impacted the lives of 1 million people, through 61 projects in 55 developing countries, investing USD 20 million.
FI: Can you share examples of direct benefits that the ITPGRFA has had at national or regional levels?
KN: Information-sharing and knowledge-sharing.
Regional capacity development workshops, for example:
- Implementation of the ITPGRFA
- Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing
- Global Information System
- Sustainable Use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
- Farmers’ Rights
- Benefit-sharing Fund project proposal development
One of the most important impacts of the ITPGRFA has been its direct benefit to farmers. Almost 1 million people in developing countries, mostly small-holder farmers, have benefited.
Women and men farmers and scientists, including young scientists, have been trained on how to conserve, manage and use plant genetic diversity. New technologies have been developed and made available to help discover and breed crop traits.
Farmers have been able to adapt their crops to the effects of climate change, pests and diseases which has had immediate benefits for their livelihoods, and longer-term benefits for the world’s food security.
Through these field projects funded by the Benefit-sharing Fund, more than 300 samples have been identified or bred that exhibit high yields, resistance to climate stress, tolerance to diseases or a combination. Current projects are on track to develop at least 90 new varieties of rice, maize, wheat, beans, potato, finger millet and other crops.
Another important impact of the ITPGRFA is the safeguarding of plant genetic resources for future generations. For example:
- In Syria, the ITPGRFA provided the framework for the protection of the international gene bank during the conflict.
- In Costa Rica, we are working with partners to safeguard a regional collection of global importance.
Breeders have also used the ITPGRFA’s exchange mechanism to develop new crop varieties. This includes using new molecular techniques to identify traits that can produce high yields or that are tolerant to pests, heat, cold, drought or floods.
It usually takes about eight to ten years from the start of breeding to when a new variety is available, so we are expecting that soon there will be new, improved varieties coming to market that were possible because of the ITPGRFA’s exchange system. For example:
- In India, 25 ‘neglected’ traditional varieties of rice and four of finger millet have been found to have resistance to environmental stresses, pests and disease. These varieties are being cultivated and multiplied in farmers’ fields, and four community seed banks have been established, allowing small farmers to conserve and exchange seeds.
- In Malawi, farmers have planted traditional varieties of cowpea, finger millet, yam and sorghum which has identified a drought-tolerant sorghum variety that has boosted farmers’ incomes. Farmers are also being trained in seed multiplication and storage, and a national gene bank has been established.
We have repeated such BSF success stories in countries across Africa, Asia, the Near East, and Central and South America and we have just opened the call for proposals for the 4th round of projects to be supported through the Benefit-sharing Fund.
To date, the ITPGRFA’s BSF has invested more than USD 20 million in 61 projects in 55 developing countries over three project cycles, positively impacting the lives of about 1 million people.
BSF projects have supported the development, testing and use of climate-ready crops, resulting in over 3000 important food crop varieties now available to the international scientific and breeding community under the ITPGRFA’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing.
FI: In your opinion, what role would the ITPGRFA play in the future of food and agriculture globally?
KN: Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture are of critical importance to our very existence. In fact, they form the basis for life on earth. In the most basic form, this means seeds, and without seeds, there would be no food crops for humans or forages for animals.
If you look at a typical plate of food, you will realise that virtually everything we eat either originates or relies on plants. They are truly the seeds of life. Without plant genetic resources, life itself would be at risk. So, it is critical that we conserve the world’s crop biodiversity while sustainably using these precious natural resources.
The overall aim for the ITPGRFA is to have full universality, where every single country in the world joins because agro-biodiversity affects the global community. We also want to ensure that the system of multilateral exchange covers all or as many crops as possible so that, in the face of climate change, mono-cropping and other stresses, we can ensure that we conserve diversity for the future, as a fall-back if the need arises, like an insurance policy.
FI: Considering that the ITPGRFA was adopted in 2001, would you suggest any changes to it to address topical issues such as agroecology, climate change, food security and sustainable agriculture?
KN: The ITPGRFA is crucial for the future of all – of agroecology, climate change adaptation, sustainable agriculture and future food security. The Governing Body Session of the ITPGRFA, at its Seventh Session, requested the continuation of discussions on possibilities to enhance the functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing, including the possibility of increasing the list of crops covered by Annex 1 of the ITPGRFA.
The FAO has recognised the ITPGRFA as one of its top ten achievements in the past decade. I would say it is the flagship of the organisation’s normative and policy work in genetic resources governance, and it also is the key instrument for the agricultural sector in response to the issues that arise regarding access to genetic resources and use of material for food security.
The ITPGRFA contributes directly to achieving some of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly when it comes to Sustainable Development Goal 2 – by promoting sustainable agriculture and working to end hunger, as well as Sustainable Development Goal 15 – by halting the loss of crop biodiversity and in doing so, supporting life on land. Indeed, one of the three objectives of the ITPGRFA is the conservation of genetic resources. Also, other activities, programs, projects that the ITPGRFA supports also contribute to other Sustainable Development Goals, for example, Sustainable Development Goal 5 – gender equality and Sustainable Development Goal 13 – combating climate change.
KN concludes this two-part interview series with three messages for stakeholders in the food and agriculture sectors.
First, to ensure food in the future, we must promote the conservation and sustainable use of food crop seeds now!
Second, to safeguard seeds and planting crops that feed us all, the ITPGRFA works to connect the local farmer with the global community.
Third, Plant Genetic Resources are the “seeds of life!” Join the ITPGRFA’s global community to ensure the continued availability of nutritious food to feed our growing world population.
Photo Credit: The ITPGRFA Secretariat.
